


I’ve been silent for so long

by Jay_Maria



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Aaron’s Trial, All For The Game - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mentioned Drake Spear, Minor Character Death, Rape/Non-con Elements, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:46:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21821656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jay_Maria/pseuds/Jay_Maria
Summary: Aaron’s trial
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 14
Kudos: 208





	I’ve been silent for so long

**Author's Note:**

> My take on Aaron’s Trial. Hey everyone, this idea has been bouncing in my head for quiet a while but I was apprehensive since Andrew and Neil and quite complex character to write about. I hope I did this wonderful series justice. Please leave me comments telling me what you liked and what i should work on. It’s very helpful. Anyways this story is not for everyone, it took me almost two weeks to write it because i had to be careful not to trigger myself. Be kind to yourself my friends

Nobody else picked up on the difference in Andrew as trial began to approach. The rest of the foxes were used to his ambivalent behaviour and didn't think twice about it.

Even Nicky didn't see it for what it was, too focused on seeing his parents again, since they were witnesses in the trial. He tried to talk to Andrew about it once, hoping for some sort of response from him; fear or anger or sadness. But instead he was met with apathy and cold indifference. So instead he focused his attention on Aaron, who was standing trial for killing Drake. Aaron liked to pretend he was fine, but he wasn't as good at getting away with it as his brother. It was easy to see in the way he could hardly look at Andrew or the long nights he spent away from the dorms, presumably with Katelyn. 

Aaron was the only other person besides Neil who could see the change in Andrew. Though not quite as fully. He noticed how the few words Andrew spoke began to seem fewer and even farther between. How he would disappear up to the roof for hours at a time, sometimes with Neil, sometimes Neil stayed in his room and Aaron would open the door to see Neil staring at his scars. He never asked why Neil wasn't with Andrew, even if only the thought of them in the same room together made him sick, he knew Neil would be if he could. 

Andrew began to miss practice more and more frequently, whether it was to see Bee or just to get away no one knew and no one was about to ask. Even Wymack brushed it off. Probably because of his promise not to get involved with their personal lives. 

The day of the trial was obnoxiously hot for November. The sweat on Neil's neck was making his shirt collar stick to this throat like a second skin, choking him. 

He sat in the front row, along with Andrew and Nicky, who were both called to testify as well. Aaron was seated right in front of them, since he was the one being prosecuted. Kevin offered to come but one look from Andrew cut the offer off in his throat. When they left Neil saw him heading into Matt's room, a handle of vodka in his hand. But right now Kevin was the last person on his mind. 

He knew better then to touch or even try to talk to Andrew right now. That wasn't what Andrew needed, he needed space to recognise that he was safe and his body and reactions are his own. But he hoped that his presence brought at least a tiny bit of comfort or security to Andrew. 

The conversation in the room hushed as someone else walked into the room. Neil didn't recognise her but he didn't need anybody to tell him her name.  
Cass Spear.  
She was cloaked in the black of mourning, even though it had been months since Drake's death. Her eyes stayed on the ground as she made her way to her seat but Neil could see that they were red-rimmed. She settled into her seat without a word, looking as though she was going to crumble. 

Neil hated her. How dare she come here and mourn for her son. How dare she act like anything she is feeling compares to that of Andrew. 

He looked away from her, determined to put her out of his mind. This wasn't about her, it was about Andrew. 

Andrew must have known she would be here but he didn't turn around. He was tugging on the ends of their matching armbands as he waited for the trial to start. For once his were empty, no knives in court. Neil wished that Andrew could have kept that security. 

Nobody was that worried about the outcome of the trial. When you looked at the facts and history it was pretty obvious that Aaron killed Drake out of self defence of his brother. The only slight issue was the topic of premeditation since Neil brought the racket with him up stairs. But Aaron's lawyer wasn't worried about that and just told Neil to say that he had a good idea who Drake was and he brought the racket out of self defence as well, because of Drake's history and physique. None of it was a lie. 

All the worry was currently centred on the man who sat next to him, far enough away that they wouldn't accidentally touch. Andrew looked indifferent, a thousand miles away from all of this. But Neil knew Andrew well enough by now to notice his tells. The armbands were the most obvious ones but there were more subtle ones as well, the rhythmic tapping of one of his fingers and the slight clench of his jaw. 

Neil almost startled when a voice spoke to the room.  
"Will everyone rise for the honourable Judge Steven".  
They did as a middle aged woman walked toward the stand, a sharp look on her face, her shoulders strong. Neil didn't miss the way Andrew's facade cracked when they introduced the judge, his finger stopping its furious tapping to hover in the air and his face turned pale. As if reliving a bad memory. 

"Please sit", the judge said.  
They sat.  
She introduced the case, the horrific details rolling off her tongue like she was talking about the weather.  
She called Aaron to the stand first where she had him recount that day. Aaron had a statement already prepared but it did nothing to lessen the tension in his voice.  
Neil and Nicky were up soon after, their statements almost identical to Aaron's. While Nicky tried to stay strong he couldn't help but start to cry towards the end, but he got through it and didn't try to do anything stupid like huge Aaron or Andrew.  
Neil had to explain why he brought the racket and he kept it simple, refusing to fall into the trap of the oppositional lawyer.  
"I knew Andrew had a rough history with Drake, even if i didn't know the details. I brought a racket because I knew that I couldn't take Drake in a fight if it came to it".  
He refused to speak in more then one word answers after that.  
At least until the lawyer said this.  
"Interesting, the situation seems a little odd to me, you a freshman exy player and the son of a infamous crime lord happen to go to a family dinner with people you hardly know, one of which has spent three years in juvie, and was put on court mandated medication for assault. Where it just so happens that a man, a marine who served our nation, is brutally murdered by a weapon that you conveniently brought."  
Neil felt his lips turn up in a horrible smile, his fathers smile. For once he didn't try to hide it. 

"Oh I'm sorry maybe you forgot what I said a few minutes ago, clearly your brain doesn't retain things very well. I brought the racket because I knew who Drake was, a child molester and a rapist. If you've done any of your homework you would see that Andrew assaulted those men because they were attacking his cousin Nicky. Do you need me to slow down, because apparent you forgot that Nicky just said the same thing about ten minutes ago", he growled. 

"Objection!", the judge yelled, "irrelevant, Mr. Josten and Mr. Harrison control yourselves now".

The lawyer gave Neil a dirty look as he was called off the stand and Andrew was called on.  
Neil tried to meet his eyes, wanting to offer any kind of comfort that he could. But he doubted Andrew even knew he was here. He looked thousands of miles away from all of this. Neil would be worried that Andrew wouldn't say anything on the stand if it wasn't for the fact that Aaron was the one with prison hanging over his head. Andrew would never allow that to happen. 

The majority of the evidence centred around Andrew, as one would expect.  
Like the rest of them the first thing they asked was for him to describe that day.  
Silence filled the room after the request and Aaron tensed as if he expected his brother to stay quiet and condemn him.  
But Andrew wouldn't do that.  
Instead he started slow, completely detached and bored sounding. Neil was sure that that would win any points for him from the jury. 

He described how Nicky's parents asked him to come, on the condition that Andrew goes as well. He described how Luther cornered him inside and told him he was trying to fix past mistakes, that he hoped to smooth it over with a bottle of alcohol, which he told Andrew was upstairs in the guest room. He explained how he went upstairs to get the alcohol but instead found Drake, who attacked him with the alcohol that Luther had mentioned, he described how Drake had smashed the bottle against his head, knocking him out. He spoke about waking up moments later, with Drake on top of him, about how he fought back but his concussion made him feel disoriented. He described hands being held to the bed frame, a blood soaked pillow and Drake's voice. 

During this exchange his expression didn't change once, his eyes firmly focused on a point in the distance, detached. 

Aaron's lawyer asked him to describe what Drake said. 

Andrew didn't even have to think, his perfect memory a curse on his subconscious. 

"Remember this AJ? Isn't this nice? Just like old times isn't it. You're perfect underneath me. Even if your not quite as young as you used to be. But I know how you can make it up to me", for the first time something broke through and his eyes flashed, his jaw clenching.  
The judge prompted him to continue.  
"How about you go downstairs and get Aaron for me? I've always wanted to see you two in bed together, it would be picture perfect”.

The words cause Aaron to freeze, shock and confusion on his face as he looked at his brother, as if for the first time. 

Andrew didn't speak, his gaze still focused behind them, the tiny lapse in his facade gone. 

The judge asked him to continue and Andrew described how suddenly the room became quiet, and the only thing he could hear was his own laughter. 

At the shock on the jury's face Aaron's lawyer asked him to clarify. Andrew explained how his medication had forced him into an extremely manic state, unable to pay attention or filter his thoughts. 

The jury looked horrified but Andrew continued on as if he didn't notice, perhaps he didn't. He described realising that Aaron and Neil were in the room and Drake was dead. How Luther admitted to having invited Drake, even though Andrew had told him in the past what Drake had done. About how the cops came and took Aaron and Andrew went to the hospital before being sent to Easthaven to be taken off his medication, at the request of his doctor. 

The oppositional lawyer jumped on that, trying to question Andrews stability off his medication but he was shut down when Aaron's lawyer brought up Betsy's recommendation and Andrew's progression. 

Andrew was called off the stand so that the lawyers could argue the case. 

Naturally the next topic the asshole jumped on was Drake's words, saying how there was no proof that this might have been a multiple offence. Considering that Andrew claims that Drake has done this before but he never reported it or even asked to change foster homes, despite having gone through many in the past. 

That was when he pulled the big gun, calling Cass Spear up to the stand. Andrew didn't react when her name was called, if anything he seemed to retreat even further into himself. 

He asked questions to Cass about Drake. Trying to paint him as a supportive older brother and patriot. Cass responded when he asked her a direct question but mostly kept to herself. Except for her eyes, which she couldn't keep from Aaron.  
Neil doesn't know what she's seeing when she looks at Aaron, if she's seeing the man who killed her son, if she's in shock about Andrew having a twin, or if she can't bear to look at Andrew so she settled for Aaron instead. 

Aaron looks uncomfortable under the surveillance but he doesn't back down, and instead stares down Cass hard. In this moment he reminds Neil of Andrew. 

Cass is excused from the stand, her comments of my drake would never do something like that and he and Andrew were brothers, ringing in his ears as Aaron's lawyer begins to make his case against the other lawyer's accusation. 

Andrew is called up to the stand again, his expression unreadable. He doesn’t look at the wall this time, instead choosing to focus on his hands. 

The defensive lawyer closed in on him, a determined look on his face and Neil felt a shiver go down his spine. 

“Mr. Minyard, is it true that you stayed with the Spears for over two years?” Andrew nodded, looking bored. “When we questioned one of the workers at the foster agency they told us that the longest you had chosen to stay at a house before that was no more than 8 months. They said that during these two years your grades improved, your court appointed counsellor said that you were progressing in your sessions, that you had turned over a new leaf. Why is it then, if these assaults were happening as you claim, that you didn’t ask to leave? Why did you stay if such things were happening?” he finished, thrusting his folder of papers toward Andrew. Neil could hear the jury mumbling next to him, obviously considering the lawyers point. 

“Objection irrelevant!” said Aaron’s lawyer. The judge seemed to consider him for a moment.  
“Clarification of history, proceed”. Aaron’s lawyer clenched his fists before walking back to  
the table. 

“Because I was a fool”, Andrew said, apathy written all over his face.  
The judge motioned for him to elaborate.  
Andrew leaned back in his chair, looking defiant and indifferent but he motioned to Aaron’s lawyer. His lawyer asked the judge for permission to use evidence to answer the defensive lawyer’s question and she accepted. 

Aaron’s lawyer stepped forward, prepared in a way that told Neil he was expecting this. The lawyer gestured at Andrew to start. 

“I stayed with the Spears for Cass. I stayed to hold onto her. I knew Drake was going to graduate and Cass said she would adopt me. It seemed like a fair trade, Drake for her, I didn’t care what he did to me or what I had to do myself in order to survive”. 

“What did you have to do in order to survive”, Aaron’s lawyer asked, his face soft. 

Neil felt all the blood drain from his face as he realised where they were going with this.

Andrew crosses his arms, the look defiant to most people, except to Neil, and maybe Aaron. It was Andrew holding himself together.  
“I had to survive myself”.  
He didn’t say anything after that, just flicked his fingers at his lawyer as a sign to continue. 

His lawyer nodded before bringing up an image on a small screen near the jury. Neil didn’t have to look to know what it was, Andrew’s bare forearms, his scars, his testament to survival exposed for everyone to see. 

The hush that fell over the room was so loud that Neil could hear his own uneven breathing.  
Even Nicky was quiet, likely in shock that his cousin ever felt that much emotion.  
The only one who was even making the slightest noise was Aaron, who’s fist was clenched over his mouth, trembling. His breath and quick and erratic, his focus not on the photos that were cycling on the screen, some of Andrew’s arms, the others were various shots of bruises and cuts on his body after Drake’s attack, but instead on Andrew who was gazing at the photos himself, his look indifferent. 

Andrew’s gaze in the photos was haunting, his mouth turned up in a smirk, his eyes challenging and vaguely hysterical to those that know him, his medication it’s own cage. 

Even the other lawyer seemed at a loss for how to move forward. But eventually he found his footing. 

“Well Mr. Minyard if everything was going according to plan and you were that interested in proceeding with the adoption why then were you convicted of breaking and entering and robbery and sent to juvie, meanwhile refusing contact with anyone during that time, even your foster family?”

That was the first time Neil saw Andrew hesitate, his eyes briefly flashing to Aaron before the apathy returned and he clenched his jaw. Neil knew him well enough to see the slight irritation that that question brought him. Andrew didn’t care about what happened to himself but revealing that he did care what happened to Aaron was a weakness that he was not thrilled to share. 

He crossed his arms, fixing his intense stare on the oppositional lawyer before speaking. 

“Right before I went to juvie I found out I had a twin brother, Aaron wanted to meet and Drake loved that idea, so much so that he said he would defer his enlistment just to be with the two of us. He was thrilled”, Andrew said, drawing out the last word. Eventually he fixed his gaze into the distance.  
“He couldn’t wait to have us in bed together, it’s all he would talk about. I wasn’t about to let that happen”.

The rest of the trial passed in a blur, the testimonies of Nicky’s parents were met with an undercurrent of scorn from the room and after an eternity they were finally excused to await the verdict. 

Neil gave everyone a wide birth as they left the room, heading towards Andrew’s car. 

To his surprise Aaron broke away from where he was walking with Nicky to jog up to Andrew, Andrew who looked a thousand miles away from all of this. 

Aaron didn’t say anything and Andrew didn’t acknowledge him. But he didn’t tell him to leave. Instead they walked toward the car, slower then normal, their blond heads titled slightly down, identical in their black suits. 

Neil knew that something like this wouldn’t magically heal the brothers but as their steps eventually synced with each other, them against the rest of the world, he felt a flicker of... something in his chest that might have been hope.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading:) if you could comment that would be great! It gives me motivation to write more


End file.
